Story by
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
Wild wing Maxim Shabanov unsheathes his ‘Radulov’
- Story byPioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
- Wild wing Maxim Shabanov unsheathes his ‘Radulov’
For a guy who had just scored his sixth goal in the NHL, and first with the Minnesota Wild, Maxim Shabanov looked like a guy who had practiced his "celly" a time or two.
Shabanov, who turns 26 on Thursday, was playing just his third game for Minnesota and has yet to crack the 50 NHL games in his second North American season. He had already seen what should have been his first Wild goal taken off the board in the first period on Tuesday because of a quick whistle.
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But with the Wild up 1-0 in the second, less than two minutes after his linemate and countryman Danila Yurov had opened the scoring, Shabanov got a puck on the flank to the right of Buffalo's net and snapped a low shot past the goalie.
Shabanov, who played four years in Russia's top hockey league before breaking into the NHL with the New York Islanders last season, twirled his stick, then pushed it down like he was sheathing a sabre.
Although his English remains a work in progress, in the postgame locker room Shabanov indicated that the move is his signature, which he calls, "my Radulov" after now-retired Russian standout Alexander Radulov, who scored 144 times in nine NHL seasons.
Wild fans hope to see it a lot more this season.
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It was a night when Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov was playing in his 400th career game. And while a game-winner from the marquee Russian on the team would have been the storybook ending to what ended up being a 3-2 overtime loss, Wild coach John Hynes was happy to see the contributions from Yurov and Shabanov as they both work to develop chemistry with Kaprizov and others.
"Yurov and Shabanov are two guys we need to step up and play well for us," the coach told reporters outside the postgame locker room at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. "I think they have. The both had good training camps and exhibition games, good first few (regular-season) games."
Yurov, 22, was also a standout in Russia before making the jump to the NHL last season. It was not always easy adjusting to the pace and the more physical nature of the North American game, but by season's end, he had a dozen goals in 73 games.
"We tried to play our game the whole game," Yurov said of the leadup to his power-play goal. "It was a great couple shifts before power play and after power play. I think we could (have) scored more in this shift."
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Perhaps his biggest challenges were in the faceoff circle, but Yurov made winning draws his summer school assignment and has been better at gaining possession so far. On Tuesday in Buffalo, Yurov won 44% of his faceoffs, which is still not where he wants or needs to be, but is a step up from his struggles last season.
To see more than one of the team's quartet of Russians get on the board this early in the season, even in a game where the Wild left a point on the table, was a good omen.
"It was nice to see them be able to get on the board tonight because I think they've had multiple opportunities in prior games and it didn't go in for them," Hynes said.
